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Adam Smith
One the first writers to investigate the advantages of specializing workers. If they specialize he found out that the factory work is much more productive. In fact the well-known pin example says that 10 workers performing all 18 tasks can make 48,000 pins a day, whereas if those same 10 workers didn't specialize they would only make a few thousand. (Encoylopedia of econmics, 2008) -
F.W. Taylor
Talyor is known for his work regarding scientific management. Scientific management is the systematic study of relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process to increase efficiency. (Jones, 2014) -
Henri Fayol (1841- 1925)
Fayol identified 14 principles that he thought were crutial to increase the efficiency of the management process. These principles are still essential today. They include: division of labor, authority and responsibility, unity of command, line of authority, centralization, unity of direction, equity, order, initiative, discipline, remuneration of personnel, stability of tenure of personnel, subordinatio of individual interests to the common interest, and esprit de corps. (Jones, 2014) -
Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie is someone to look at not only because of how much sucess he achieved just by the age of 30 but because he always had a drive to find a way to reduce operating costs. (Jones, 2014) -
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Max Weber developed its principles of bureaucracy which helped Germany manage its growing industrial enterprises while it was striving to become a world power. Webers principles of Bureaucracy basically said that there should be a clear hierachy of authority, system to reward employees, clear task and role, and a system of rules and standards. (Jones, 2014) -
Mary Parker Follett (1868- 1933)
Mary was a well known writer in management, she focused more on the human side of the organizations. She proposed that "authority should go with knowledge whether it is up the line or down." Wokers have the knowledge of the job the most so they should have control of the work process itself and managers should then be coaches and facilitators. (Jones, 2014) -
The Gilbreths Frank (1868-1924) and Lillian (1878-1972)
The Gilbreths were followers of Taylor and refined his work movements and made many contributions to time-and-motion study. Their goal was to maximize the efficiency with which each individual task was performed so that gains across tasks would add up to huge savings in time and effort. (Jones, 2014) -
Fordism
When Henry Ford simplified the work process by implementing a conveyor belt they started experiencing a huge employee turnover due to work induced stress. When he recognized the problem he made a change by shortening the work day by an hour and paying the workers double what they were making. He became famous overnight and his new approach was known as Fordism. (Jones, 2014) -
The Hawthorne Studies
Elton Mayo becomes the first person to realize that there is also behavioural management and that there are not only physical hazards in the work place but also psychological factors as well. Studies concluded that human factors were often more important than physical conditions in motivating employees to greater productivity. (Ziv, 2011) -
Organizational Development
Social scientist Kurt Lewin launches the research center for group dynamics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology his theory was that learning and organization is best done when there is a conflict between different experiences in work place and a set goal to strive. (Ziv, 2011) -
Sociotechnical Systems Theory
A group of researchers from London's Tavistock Institute of Human Relations led by Eric Trist studied a South Yorkshire coalmine in 1949. Their research leads in the development of the sociotechnical systems theory which considers both the social and the technical aspects when designing jobs. There are four basic components to sociotechnical theory. They are: environment subsystem, social subsystem, technical subsystem and organizational design. (Clark, 2011) -
Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is published in his book "Motivation and Personality." His Theory describes that employees should be motivated, become leaders and not be passive. It also provides a large backround on how to gain employees commitment. (Ziv, 2011) -
The Open-Systems View
This is one if not the most influential views of how an organization is affected by its external environment. It was developed by Daniel Katz, Robert Kahn and James Thompson in the 1960's. They viewed the organization as an open system which means a system that takes in resources from its external environment and converts or transforms them into goods or services that are sent back to that environment and then bought by customers. (Jones, 2014) -
Contingency Theory
During the 1960's the contigency theory was developed by Tom Burns, G.M Stalker, Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch. The crucial message is that their is no one best way to organize. The organizational structures and control systems managers choose ( depend on (are contigent on) characteristics of the external environment in which the organization operates. (Jones, 2014) -
Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor (1906-1964) is one of the forefathers of management theory. His book "The Human Side of Enterprise" had a significant influence on the management field mainly because of his Theory X and Theory Y. With Theory X management's role is to coerce and control employees. With Theory Y management's role is to develop the potential in employees and help them to release that potential towards common goals. (Clark, 2011) -
Management Grid
Robert Blake and Jane Mouton developed a management model that conceptualizes management styles and relations. Their grid uses two axis "concern for people" is plotted using the vertical axis and "concern for task" is along the horizontal axis. (Ziv, 2011) -
Performance Technology
Thomas Gilbert published "Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance." It decribes the behavioural- engineering model which became the bible of performance technology. Gilbert wrote that accomplishment specification is the only logical way to define performance requirements and that accomplishments are the best starting points for developing performance standards. (Clark, 2011) -
Tom Peters and Robert H Waterman Jr
"In Search of Excellence" the book that these two men wrote was published in 1982 and remains one of the biggest selling and widely read business books ever. They found eight common themes which they argued were responsible for the success of chosen corporations, which have now been pointers for managers ever since. (Chapman, 2009) -
Peter Senge
Peter Senge made the learning organization popular in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Learning Organization. He describes the organization as an organism with the capacity to enhance its capabilities and shape its own future. It uses feedback systems and alignment mechanisms to achieve its goals. He called for five disciplines, system thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning. (Clark, 2011) -
Aaron Feuerstein (Ethics)
On Dec 11, 1995 a fire burned most of Malden Mills to the ground and put 3,000 people out of work. Instead of permanently putting them out of work CEO Aaron Feuerstein spent millions of dollars keeping all of the employees on payroll with full benefits until he could get a new factory built. When asked why? he said "the fundamental difference is that i consider our workers an asset, not an expense." (Clark, 2011)
